Knowing News

The Knowing News programming we have coming in October is the result of a grant from the Wisconsin Center for the Book and the Wisconsin Humanities Council. The goal of the programming is to make people aware of the importance of journalism to a thriving democracy and help us all be more informed consumers of the news.

Public libraries who were recipients of the grant were required to partner with their local paper. We are partnering with the Dunn County News and the UW Stout Library has also joined us.

Each participant in the project designs their own programming around the theme of knowing news. We decided to include a community read of the modern journalism classic: The Elements of Journalism. Copies of the book are now available for check-out at the library. Jan Larson, Professor of Journalism at UW Eau Claire, will introduce the ideas in the book on October 4 at 7:00 p.m. here in the library. Professor Larson is coordinating the Beyond the Headlines project in Eau Claire which strives to connect journalists and the public to achieve better understanding. L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library is also coordinating a community read of the same book in Eau Claire. I encourage you to check out the Beyond the Headlines project.

October 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the Menomonie Public Library – Introduction to the concepts in The Elements of Journalism presented by Jan Larson, Professor of Journalism at UW Eau Claire.

On October 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the Stout Student Center Ballroom A we will host a panel of western Wisconsin journalists who will lead a discussion on what it is like to work in today’s newsroom.

Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio

Chris Ison, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and formerly Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper